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I don't know what happened to his wife after 1841, their youngest daughter appears to be in Hackney Orphanage in 1851

There's a possible death for Elizabeth BUSHBY in 1844 in St Luke's, if you haven't already tried that? Near enough to Bethnal Green.

With the daughter in the London Orphan Asylum in 1851, the family may be mentioned in poor law records. The rough settlement examinations for Bethnal Green might be worth a look, as these can contain details of family background.

You might have to try other unions too, depending on where their settlement was. Bethnal Green records are at the LMA. Hackney poor law records are partly at the LMA and partly at Hackney Archives (they have an online catalogue).

Thanks Kerrywood,
I don't have the 1844 death cert but if I were to buy another it would be that one, I've already bought 2 who weren't her so I went off buying them.
I've read that the orphanage took children from respectable backgrounds who had either lost both parents or a father leaving the mother unable to provide for them.
I will look into the poor law records.
Isaac wasn't on the evidence of age for civil servants list.

It wasn't a list of clerks (I wish there was a list of clerks!) it was a list of custom house agents which I think is something different and I read that they were usually freemen of the city of London, there was a list of 3 hundred or so at Kew.

My g.g.g.grandfather was Isaac Bushby, his occupation on baptisms and certificates has been described as Gent, Clerk in the Custom House, Mercantile Clerk and Custom House Agent. I couldn't find him on a list of Custom House Agents so I'm guessing his widowed wife was embelishing her youngest child's birth certificate (he died 5 months previously).
He was born c.1788/9 died 1838 and lived in Bethnal Green, what I really want to know is where he was born. I have a fragment of information which suggests he was born in Westmorland, the son of an innkeeper. Would the customs records at Kew tell me where he was born?
Thanks,
Annette

My gggg grandfather was a clerk in HM Surveyor of Sloops, Customs House, until about 1822. This particular office was a sort of affiliated office for a while until it was fully merged into the Customs - it might be that your ancestor was in a similar type of office. These records proved tricky to hunt out at The National Archives in Kew but I got there in the end, so worth persevering with.

Thank you for giving me the encouragement to try Kew, I went there a couple of years ago to ask about the customs houe but the person I asked for help must have been having a bad day, they didn't seem to be able to tell me what information the records would hold. I was confused about where I should look and the only records I found seemed to be about ports other than London. I went to Lambeth Palace to get the marriage licence and that was a real disappointment because it had nothing extra on it at all. It's the place of birth that I really need so that I can say for sure that he came from Westmoreland. Any extra info would be nice though.

Anyone researching Customs Officers for later periods than those mentioned above should note that there are easy-to-check lists of clerks (and most established grades) in Ham's Yearbooks in TNA library.

The Civil Service Evidence of Age index is worth checking for birth details. Only "difficult" cases were retained but these are the very ones that give us trouble.